Pick a Prize
by ohmytheon
Summary: During a trip off campus, Uraraka finds out that Todoroki has never been to an arcade and is determined to help give him the best experience possible.


**Notes:** Someone sent me a Todochako prompt based off that official art of everyone eating where Todoroki is giving Uraraka one of the SOFTEST looks in the world while she happily munches on a burger. This is what happened.

* * *

Most of the time, everyone was too busy with their homework, hero training, or extracurricular activities to go off campus and actually do something for fun as a group. It was hard enough to pencil in time to hang out on campus, much less off, and there was so much they had to do. They were only in their first year and yet already the work was building up. It would only get worse. At this point, they'd be doing their homework and eating meals at the same time by the time they were in their second year. Uraraka already had dreams about school.

However, with some perseverance and more than a little frustration, they managed to find a time where they could all take a break and go off campus for a little. While they were all very much focused on becoming heroes, Iida had insisted that even an hour or two would give them the relief to push themselves further when they got back. Pushing themselves constantly was great and all until they hit a wall.

In the end, they had decided to go to an arcade. It would just be some light fun before getting back into the swing of things. Only a handful of them were going. Uraraka wasn't sure why Bakugou was coming with them, but he had grumbled something about Kirishima and Kaminari coming later and she wasn't going to question him on that. The last time she'd pointed out something to him, he had looked like he was going to have a conniption. It was best to just leave him be and let him do his own thing.

Uraraka and Deku were apparently the most excited about their adventure. She loved arcades, but didn't go to them often. Growing up, it had been fun to beat boys her age and older at the games. They'd get so worked up over the idea of getting beat by a girl, sometimes even accusing her of cheating. When she had been ten, one boy had pulled her hair in anger and she'd floated him to the ceiling. Sure, she'd been the one to get in trouble, but the scared look on his face had been worth it and he'd never bothered her again.

In the middle of excitedly explaining one of her favorite games to Tsu as the arcade came in sight, Todoroki let out a thoughtful hum to himself. "I've never been to an arcade before."

Uraraka spun on him quickly. "What? Never?"

Todoroki shook his head. "It wasn't exactly something that Endeavor would allow. A waste of time better spent training."

"That's a travesty!" Uraraka exclaimed. A determined spirit came over her. "I'll show you the best games to play." She grabbed him by the wrist without thinking and hurriedly dragged him ahead of the group so that they could get inside the arcade first. Honestly, what kind of kid didn't go to the arcade at least once? It was like a staple of childhood. "You've seriously been denied something important."

"Are you certain?" Todoroki eyed the dark room and the flashing lights of the arcade games. It was loud inside in every way, the outside deceptively quiet because of the thick concrete walls and tinted glass. "It doesn't look like much, to be honest. Those prizes look like they'd be cheaper to buy than spend a bunch of money to get tickets."

Well, he had a point there. Uraraka had spent plenty days as a kid mourning over that fact. Still…

"That's not the point," she told him.

"Then what is it?"

"Winning, of course!" Uraraka smiled up at him. "You like to do that, don't you?"

Bakugou came up from behind them, his hands sunk in his pockets and a glower on his face as he scoffed, "You wouldn't know that judging from the Sports Festival."

Before Todoroki could even respond, Uraraka poked Bakugou in the side and nearly made him yelp. "We don't need your commentary." Bakugou gave a look between furious and flabbergasted, which caused Deku to slam a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. He didn't do a good job though and Bakugou ended up chasing him through the arcade all the way to the token machine.

By the time she, Todoroki, Iida, and Tsu got there, Bakugou and Deku were already in the middle of a playing a Tekken game closeby. Deku wore a look of intense concentration on his face, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth, while Bakugou shouted every single thing he was doing, including, "Die!" whenever he went for a specialty move. Todoroki watched them with faint interest as all of them converted their money to tokens.

Once they got their tokens, Uraraka turned to Todoroki. "So what do you want to play first?"

"I'm...not sure," Todoroki admitted, scanning the place. It was hard to tell, but he looked kind of overwhelmed.

Now that they were here, it was obvious to tell that he'd never been in a place like this. When they had all begun to play video games in the dorms when there was a moment of downtime, he had been confused as well. Being reminded of the fact that he hadn't had a normal childhood made Uraraka both sad and determined. He deserved to experience some of this stuff before they were neck-deep in the throws of their jobs as pro heroes.

"Okay, we've got racing games, fighting games, shooting games, sports games, trick games, old school games, virtual reality games," Uraraka listed, lifting up a finger with each one. Todoroki blinked. She pointed in Iida's direction. "His favorite are the racing games, but there's different kinds. You've got cars, motorcycles, planes, and more." She pointed to Tsu. "Her favorite are the old school arcade games. She's really good at them. They look easy, but they aren't."

Tsu beamed proudly. "No one can beat my score in Frogger."

"What's that?" Todoroki asked.

"Basically, it's a game about a frog trying to cross the road without getting squashed by a car or over a river without falling or getting eaten by an alligator," Uraraka explained.

Todoroki turned to Tsu. "Isn't that kind of cheating?"

The two girls laughed. They knew that he was actually being serious, but it was close to being a joke as well. He was slowly figuring out his sense of humor, but honestly, the funniest moments were unintentional. Luckily, he never took offense when they laughed. She opened her mouth to apologize, but then he didn't seem bothered at all, so she decided against it.

"Let's try one of the shooting games," Uraraka decided. "We can play as a team and I can help you out."

While it had taken Todoroki some time to figure out the gaming system, these arcade games were a better fit. It was easier to play a game where the controller was closer to what real life would be instead of just a controller. She let him pick the game, so they ended up playing one where they had to shoot aliens. He picked it up quickly, even if he'd held the fake gun awkwardly at first. To be honest, once he figured out the few basics, he was even better at the game than her, but then shooting games had never been her forte.

He did jump when an alien popped up right in front of him and she laughed again. It was just so...innocent.

They both sucked at sports games, so Uraraka didn't feel so bad. Their equally abysmal scores at the baseball game were enough to make Bakugou cackle. He bumped Uraraka to the side so that he could play Todoroki and "show them how it was done". Despite Todoroki's attempts to try harder, Bakugou creamed him. Uraraka pat Todoroki on the back and then glared at Bakugou as he swaggered away smirking.

Todoroki was decent at the old school games, though he wasn't on Tsu's level. Even then, Uraraka thought he liked them more. They were simple and required the same movements repeatedly, but once he got the hang of them, they were easier to play. It took him a multiple tries and he played a few different ones, but she caught him smiling while playing. Even if he didn't like anything else, this little moment felt like an accomplishment. He should've been able to experience this before, but she was happy to have been able to give him this.

"What's that?" Todoroki prompted after he finished playing a Donkey Kong game.

Uraraka turned to look where he was pointing and her eyes lit up. "It's Dance Dance!" Unlike the other arcade games, it was a lot more interactive. The platform was raised so that whoever played the game felt like they were on a stage. He gave her a faintly curious look. "It plays songs and you have to follow the movements of the dancers on the screen." She laughed. "It's a workout!"

"Did you...want to play it?" Todoroki asked. She raised her eyebrows. "You seem excited about it."

"Oh, I'm not that good," Uraraka replied, blushing a little. She did love it and her eyes kept getting drawn over by the flashing lights and bubbly music, but it made her feel self-conscious too. "And you probably won't like it."

Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. "You've been playing games that I've picked out. It's only fair. I can just watch this time."

Just watch. Right. Like that made things any better. Still, he was trying to be nice and accommodating since she had been going out of her way to help him and she did want to play…

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Uraraka latched onto Iida, who happened to be passing by her at that moment. "Let's go play Dance Dance!" He was startled by her sudden exclamation, but agreed. It was better to play with someone else anyways. That way the attention wouldn't be all on her and she wouldn't look so foolish. Just because she liked the game did not mean that she was any good. It was mostly just a game she played for fun and to be silly.

After picking one of her favorite songs, she and Iida set about getting ready with Iida loosening up his limbs like he was about to go for a run. She should have known right then and there that something ridiculous was going to happen, but when Iida had started to bust out near perfectly matching moves to his avatar on the screen at record speed, she was left gaping for a moment, causing her to lose points. It still made him look absurdly goofy, but Uraraka was thrown and left trying to catch up with him in a way that did not make her feel like a flailing giraffe.

Once the song over, Uraraka leaned against the bar behind her, panting heavily, and wiped off some sweat. "How are you so good at this?" she complained.

"It's all about speed and precision," Iida replied, as if that made any sense.

"You did a good job still," Todoroki pointed out, acknowledging her decent grade on the screen.

Uraraka huffed. "He still kicked my butt."

"I bet you're better at it than Bakugou," Todoroki told her.

"What the hell did you just say, Icy Hot?" Bakugou demanded, peering around the corner of a shooting game that he was currently playing. It was as if hearing his name set off a warning sound in his head and caused him to pop up wherever it had been spoken.

Todoroki did not blink in the face of Bakugou's fury. "It just doesn't seem like your type of game, is all."

"Every game is my type of game," Bakugou declared, abruptly dropping his current game and stomping over towards them. He jumped onto the platform and shoved Iida to the side. "Step aside, Engine Legs."

Uraraka gawked at him. "You're gonna play Dance Dance?"

Bakugou popped his neck and then stretched his lower back. "Yeah, what of it?"

Honestly, Uraraka could lose terribly to Bakugou in this round and she still would consider it a win. She forgot that insinuating Bakugou couldn't do something almost automatically made him do it in order to prove that he could and they were wrong. Todoroki had pushed that exact button. She didn't think he'd done it on purpose - it had been more like his attempt to comfort her - but it had had the effect regardless. Deku had appeared next to Todoroki, biting his lip and clearly trying not to laugh.

"Pick the song," Bakugou told her.

Eyeing him for a moment, Uraraka turned to the game and, after careful consideration, picked the girliest, poppiest, most ridiculous song on it. He knew it too, judging from the glare that he shot her. She smiled back at him innocently. "Reconsidering?"

Bakugou didn't respond, which told her that he was. However, he couldn't back down now. If he left without playing, then he would look weak in his eyes. It would be embarrassing. Playing this game was humiliating, but backing out was something he considered way worse. He'd dug his grave and he'd dig further before he tried to climb out. Honestly, Todoroki had somehow managed to make this the best day ever with that one throwaway comment. She wasn't about to forget this.

As soon as the song started, Uraraka had to use all of her focus to not break down laughing. She had to win, if only because it would make this moment that much sweeter, but seeing Bakugou attempt to play Dance Dance would be one of her favorite memories for the rest of her life. By the time they were finished, both sweating and panting, Uraraka leaned over with her hands on her knees, Deku and Tsu were laughing while Iida clapped for them.

"You chose the dumbest song," Bakugou growled.

"What…?" Uraraka gasped for air in between giggling. "What were you doing over there?"

"I was dancing!"

Todoroki shook his head. "Even I know that wasn't dancing."

"You looked like one of those flailing balloon figures!" Uraraka burst out.

"Well you looked drunk!" Bakugou shot back.

Uraraka couldn't even get bad at him for that comment. It hadn't been her best work. Still, she grinned smugly when their scores came up and it showed that she'd beat him by ten points. He scowled and stomped off, going back to the shooting game that he'd been playing earlier. This time, when the game started up, he shot with a lot more aggression and vengeance.

"You did good," Todoroki said as she hopped down.

"Thanks!"

"But you're right. Definitely not my type of game."

It was clear that he didn't want to play it and Uraraka wouldn't force him. She couldn't deny that Dance Dance was an embarrassing game and it required a level of grace that she was only just now figuring out thanks to using her quirk on herself more. Still, she was pretty happy having played it. She was glad that Todoroki had brought it up.

When Todoroki expressed interest in trying a racing game, Deku dragged him over to one of the motorcycle games. They were a lot more interactive than the racecar ones. Plus, it had four different ones that were connected so that they could race each other. Uraraka took the one of the left end with Todoroki on her right, then Deku, and finally Iida. Being a racing game, Iida was determined to come in first, but it was anyone's game. She wasn't the best at racing games - Deku and Todoroki both had better coordination than her - but she wouldn't go down without a fight.

Even though the fake motorcycles were wobbly, Todoroki was smooth on them. She didn't think that he'd ever driven a motorcycle before, but he was able to move side-to-side with a balance that seemed impossible. It must have come from the way he used the ice half of his quirk - how he could skate around on the ice when the rest of them would've been slipping and falling over.

When Todoroki came in first, Deku exclaimed, "You're really good at this!"

Iida ogled him. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

"Positive," Todoroki replied with a shake of his head. He and Iida were tall enough to sit on the fake motorcycles with their feet pressed flat against the ground. Deku was leaning hard to the left, one foot on the ground while the other was propped up on the side of his bike. Uraraka had to lift her leg high up and hobble off awkwardly. She would've probably crashed to the ground if Todoroki hadn't reached out to grab her by the arm. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah!" Heat rushed to Uraraka's cheeks. "I'm just short. Should've floated myself over."

"You all hungry?" Deku asked. "They've got a little food court here."

All of them agreed to wanting something to eat. They'd been wandering around the arcade for over an hour and it was around the time they would've eaten dinner at the dorms. After finding Tsuyu and Bakugou, they made their way to a brightly lit side of the arcade that had a few tables. There wasn't much in the way of food and no doubt it would be greasy, but Uraraka never minded cheap food. She'd grown up on it. In a way, it kind of reminded her of home, as silly as that was.

However, when Uraraka opened her wallet, her heart dropped. Normally she was so careful about watching what she spent when she went out, but there was something about being in an arcade that had made her forget. The expense of playing these games could catch up. She'd bought too many tokens. Of course she'd had fun and she didn't regret it, but now she only had enough money to buy a drink. Well, she did have enough money for a meal, but it would mean dipping into her funds that she saved for other important things.

"What do you want to eat?" Todoroki asked her. He was up next at the counter after Deku finished his order.

"I wanted a cheeseburger, but…" Uraraka shut her wallet and slid it back into her back pocket. She gave him a bright smile, determined to not let her disappointment show. "Now that I think about it, I'm not really that hungry. I'm gonna go outside for some fresh air."

Without waiting for him to respond, she turned on her heels and walked out the side door. Not having enough money was embarrassing and she didn't want to sit around the others while they ate. She hated being reminded of that, especially when she was around Todoroki or Momo. Not that they ever humiliated her or bragged about it, but they did have money. Having the number two hero for a father did come in handy, even if he did seem like a moody asshole most of the time. By the time she came back in, they'd be finished eating and she could pretend like nothing had happened.

Wandering over to a small fountain, Uraraka sat down on the edge and relaxed. The sun was starting its decent down, casting a beautiful orange glow over the city. They'd probably head back to U.A. soon, but she wanted to enjoy the night out a little longer. She had a few tokens left, so she'd figure out how to best spend them (probably play her favorite games, Dance Dance not included) and turn in whatever tickets she had for a prize.

In her attempt to give Todoroki the best first experience at the arcade possible, she hadn't played a lot of games that gave tickets in return, so she'd probably only be able to get some candy, but it was better than nothing. Again, she didn't regret it. She'd had fun and, more importantly, she thought he had too. They all had.

"Hey, Uraraka."

She looked up and found Todoroki standing in front of her. Seeing him out here was surprising enough, but then he held out a cheeseburger and her eyes widened further. "Oh, you didn't have to do that." He must have seen her looking at her wallet in dismay. Now she was really embarrassed. He hadn't meant to do that though, so she wasn't mad at him or anything.

"I wanted to thank you for tonight," Todoroki said, still holding it out to her.

"It wasn't anything, honestly!" Uraraka said. When her stomach growled, she connected eyes with Todoroki for one embarrassed second and then took the cheeseburger. She could deny being hungry all she wanted because of her lack of money, but her stomach wasn't about to turn down free food.

Todoroki sat down next to her. "I wasn't planning on coming out tonight, but Deku insisted. He and Iida said it would be good to get out and have some time off training." He had a drink, which he passed between his hands, one hot, one cold, and she realized that it must have been a nervous habit. It was an odd realization, seeing as how she'd never seen him display one before. "I was...embarrassed, by my lack of experience and understanding, but you went out of your way to help me and I appreciate that."

A soft smile appeared on Uraraka's face. "I'm glad you came out."

"Me too," Todoroki said, stilling the drink in his hands. "The least I could do was buy your food." He peered at her sideways. "You had fun too, right? I didn't mean to be a hassle."

"No, I had a ton of fun!" Uraraka insisted. "Plus, you got Bakugou to play Dance Dance. I'm never going to forget that. It was hilarious."

Todoroki nodded his head. "He did look really...foolish."

"Totally," Uraraka agreed.

"There you all are!" a voice shouted. Uraraka and Todoroki looked up to see Deku and the others walking towards them, even Bakugou, who was texting furiously on his phone. Kirishima and Kaminari had been no-shows, so he was probably chewing them out. "We were wondering where you two went."

"It feels much nicer out here," Todoroki replied, although it had little bearing on why they'd been outside. She had just wanted to escape an awkward situation and he'd followed her out here to thank her.

"You still shouldn't just leave without saying anything," Iida scolded. "Something could have happened!"

Todoroki nodded, but said, "We would've had each other." The throwaway comment made Uraraka blush a little more than he intended, but luckily no one seemed to notice.

It was nice out, so the others agreed to eat outside. They sat down on the fountain edge as well, digging into their food. Todoroki only had a drink in his hand, so she offered him the burger that he'd bought her. He hesitated, but then took it from her to take a bite and then hand it back. She smiled happily as she began to eat. Yeah, it was just as cheap as she'd expected, but it was the thought behind it that counted and she was more than content. She was also hungrier than she'd realized so she munched down a little faster than was appropriate, but whatever.

Tonight had been really fun. She didn't spent a lot of one-on-one time with Todoroki, but it was nice to get to know her other classmates more. It was important to her. And it had been a big deal to her that not only she have fun, but everyone else too. Putting a smile on people's faces was a part of being a hero too, wasn't it?

Too distracted by eating, Uraraka missed the way Todoroki was watching her sideways, as if seeing her for the first time, and how relaxed as he was hunched over in his seat next to her. In the beginning, he had always been so tense and cold, but in this moment, as the sun set and everyone was chatting and laughing while they ate, he looked...at peace. Yeah, it was a good day.


End file.
